New-look bullpen helps Yankees down Astros

Yankees second baseman Starlin Castro, left, throws to first on an attempted double play against the Astros on Monday.

Yankees second baseman Starlin Castro, left, throws to first on an attempted double play against the Astros on Monday.

Photo: Eric Christian Smith — The Associated Press

Photo: Eric Christian Smith — The Associated Press

Image
1of/1

Caption

Close

Image 1 of 1

Yankees second baseman Starlin Castro, left, throws to first on an attempted double play against the Astros on Monday.

Yankees second baseman Starlin Castro, left, throws to first on an attempted double play against the Astros on Monday.

Photo: Eric Christian Smith — The Associated Press

New-look bullpen helps Yankees down Astros

1 / 1

Back to Gallery

HOUSTON >> Austin Romine hit a tiebreaking double in the eighth inning to make a winner of Michael Pineda, and the New York Yankees’ bullpen did just fine Monday night without star closer Aroldis Chapman in a 2-1 victory over the Houston Astros.

Hours after New York traded Chapman to the Chicago Cubs, All-Star relievers Dellin Betances and Andrew Miller closed out Houston to help the fourth-place Yankees (51-48) move three games above .500 for the first time this season.

Betances struck out the side in the eighth before Miller, back in the ninth-inning role following Chapman’s departure, earned his eighth save. The fired-up lefty pumped his fist when he got Carlos Gomez to ground into a game-ending double play with two on.

A frustrated Gomez spiked his helmet and kicked at the ground after he was out at first base.

George Springer hit a leadoff homer and Luis Valbuena had three hits for Houston, which had won four straight. Top prospect Alex Bregman went 0 for 4 with two strikeouts in his major league debut.

Romine’s double to deep center field scored Chase Headley, who singled to start the eighth.

Headley singled in the fifth to drive in Didi Gregorius, tying it at 1.

Pineda allowed five hits and struck out eight in his second straight solid outing after throwing six scoreless innings Wednesday against Baltimore.

The big right-hander retired 14 of 15 during one stretch, but ran into trouble in the sixth. He loaded the bases with two outs before Bregman flied out to the right-field warning track.

Springer’s fifth leadoff home run of the year was the 11th for the Astros this season, surpassing the previous club record of 10 set in 2001.

Keuchel gave up two runs and six hits with five strikeouts in 7 2/3 innings. He has allowed two runs or fewer in four straight starts.

The left-hander retired 13 of his first 14 batters. The only hit he gave up was Romine’s single in the third until Gregorius’ double in the fifth.

A-Rod optimistic

Yankees DH Alex Rodriguez was out of the lineup for a third straight game. Rodriguez, who is 4 for 31 with one home run in July, is batting .206 this season with nine home runs and 29 RBIs, but he’s optimistic after speaking to the Yankees’ sabermetrics department. “There’s no question that for the first two months, my mechanics were out of whack,” Rodriguez said. “I think I found something, and I’m excited to put it into play.”